Patriarch of Jerusalem considered neutral in this dispute and asked by community churches to send out priests for Australia and New Zealand.

The Church of Jerusalem appoints Fr. Seraphim Phocas to Sydney and Fr. Athanasios Kantopoulos to Melbourne.

1899: Refusal of the Patriarch of Constantinople to recognise the newly elected Arabic-speaking Patriarch of Antioch and All the East causes a parting of the way between the Greek speaking Orthodox and the Arabic speaking Orthodox around the world including Australia. Russian speaking Orthodox also suffer in the fall-out.

1913: Fr. Nicholas Shehadie appointed Patriarchal Exarch for Australia and New Zealand by His Beatitude Gregorious Haddad Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East.

1913: First Exarch of Australia and New Zealand, Fr. Nicholas Shehadie arrives in Sydney and serves as parish priest of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church Surry Hills.

1917: Bolshevik revolution in Russia sees large numbers of Russians and allied peoples displaced and fleeing genocidal massacres there and in satelite countries over the next 10 years. Many flee to western Europe, and then North America, and South America. Others flee to Asian Russia and then to China, Japan, South East Asia, Philippines, and Australasia.

1920 May 23: Foundation stone laid at Walker and Redfern Streets Redfern, Sydney, by the Vicar-General of the Diocese of Sydney, for the first exclusively Syrian Orthodox church in Australia. Right Reverend Father Nicola Shehade becomes pastor of Redfern, and continues as Exarch of Australia and New Zealand.

1920s: Genocidal massacres in modern Turkey following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire see millions of people displaced. Large numbers of Orthodox flee to the new world including North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand and Oceania.

Local Bishops

1924 March 7: Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Australia and New Zealand established by Ecumenical Patriarchate.

1925: First Russian church acquired in Brisbane. Was dedicated to St. Nicholas.

1929: Metropolitan Christoforos (Knitis) deposed, exiled to Samos.

1930s: First Russian Orthodox priest in Sydney, Father Methodious, resides with Antiochian Orthodox family of Anis and Aman Birbara. Until the purchase of a house in Moore Park, and its conversion into a church, Archimandrite Methodious held all his Sydney services at the Antiochian Orthodox church of St. George Redfern.

September 1: The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Australia and New Zealand becomes the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand, and Metropolitan Ezekiel becomes Archbishop.

1961: St Andrew's Brotherhood set up by Archbishop Ezekiel for the improvement of Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan services.

January: First Greek Orthodox Clergy-Laity Congress held in Sydney.

June 19: Land purchased for Greek Orthodox St George Monastery, Springwood.

1964-1969 Fr. Nicolas Mansour is Patriarchal Vicar-General of the Antiochian Orthodox Church in Australia and New Zealand

1965: Second Greek Orthodox Clergy-Laity Congress held in Sydney.

1967: Father Nicolas Mansour appointed Exarch of Antiochian Orthodox Church in Australia and New Zealand, bestowed with pectoral cross and adorned with it by Greek Orthodox Archbishop Ezekiel at request of Patriarch Ignatius of Antioch

New Generation of Bishops

1969: Archimandrite Gibran (Ramlawey) dispatched from USA by Patriarch Ignatius of Antioch to investigate future of Antiochian Orthodox Church in Australasia.

October: Antiochian Orthodox Diocese of Australasia established by Holy Synod of Antioch.

November: First Antiochian Orthodox hierarch, Bishop Gibran (Ramlawey) of Australasia, returns to Australia and commences duties as Patriarchal Vicar of Australia and New Zealand.

Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Iakovos of Philadelphia arrives as Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to investigate future of Greek Orthodox Church in Australia and in New Zealand.

1970: Sister Dorothea places St Basil's Homes for the Aged under the patronage of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.

1982: First Greek Orthodox National Youth Conference held at University of Melbourne. Resolution passed to hold Greek Orthodox National Youth Conferences every second year thereafter, with Greek Orthodox State Youth Conferences held on the alternate year.

1991-94: Schism occurs from Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. Patriarchate of Jerusalem accepts schismatic parishes and begins jurisdiction in Australia. Great protests from Archbishop Stylianos and Patriarch Bartholomew ensue, culminating in an expanded Greek-speaking synod and the excommunication of the bishops that went to Australia. Jerusalem withdraws from Australia, causing those parishes either to unite to local schismatic bishops or to join old-calendarist synods.

1992: First visit of an Orthodox Patriarch to Australasia. Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch and All the East visits the Antiochian Orthodox Diocese of Australia and New Zealand.

2003: The Hobart Schism. The Greek Orthodox Community in Hobart (formed prior to the 1970s) ask a schismatic clergyman to replace their rector; the incumbent rector founds new parish, excommunicating all Greek Orthodox in Hobart that did not follow him. The schism was later healed when the Community returned to the Archdiocese, leaving two parishes in Hobart.

2004: Permanent Romanian Orthodox priest in Western Australia.

2006: St. Andrew's Orthodox Press publishes The Divine Liturgy of our Father among the Saints John Chrysostom in hardback.

2010: First Episcopal Assembly of Bishop in Oceania. Divine Liturgy concelebrated by bishops from Greek (Australia and New Zealand), Antiochian, ROCOR, Serbian and Romanian dioceses and archdioceses, followed by meeting and a declaration issued. Bishops met annually after this.

Nikanor (Savic) of Athos, Australia and New Zealand glorified by the Church of Serbia.

2011: Archimandrite Iakovos (Tsigounis) elected Bishop of Militoupoleos, auxiliary to Archbishop Stylianos in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.

2012 Apr: First 'synaxis' of all canonical priests of Victoria, with bishops, at Oakleigh, Melbourne.

2013 Jan: The end of the OCA presence in Australia (with the repose of Fr Ian Bojko in Brisbane).

May: First concelebration of bishops and priests from most canonical jurisdictions of the Episcopal Assembly, commemorating the Edict of Milan.

Sources

Chryssavgis, Fr M., & Chryssavgis, Fr J., Persons and Events in Orthodoxy: Historical Moments in the development of Orthodox Christianity (with a chapter on Australian Orthodoxy), Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, 1985.